Gifts in a Jar, Let’s Make Christmas and Christmas Day Spiced Coffee

The second in my Gifts in a Jar posts for Christmas, and also an entry for Vanessa’s very seasonal Let’s Make Christmas event. This is part of my Trio of Festive Beverages in a Jar series ~ Christmas Eve Hot Chocolate and Christmas Morning Tea to follow later on next week.

Wonderful home-made and original gifts

for Christmas……….and all in a jar.

It is better to give than to receive is the age-old adage ~ and Christmas is a wonderful time to give of course, but, what do you give your friends, family, colleagues or neighbours especially when the finances are a little tight or you are stumped for original ideas. I first discovered Gifts in a Jar when I visited a craft fair many years ago, and I thought what a brilliant idea they were ~ the gift is IN the jar and you get to keep an attractive container as well ~ recycling at its best. The craft fair had rows and rows of beautiful jars, pots and containers, all displayed with an astonishing array of delicious and decadent contents ~ from luxury beverage mixes to herbal bath concoctions, I was hooked. Since then, I always include home-made gifts in a jar on my Christmas gift list; in fact, if I didn’t, I would have an army of friends and family asking where they were this year!

The possibilities are endless, over the years I have perfected numerous recipes that work very well when arranged in a jar, or an attractive pot, bowl or even a pretty box or bag. There is NOTHING as popular as food or luxury bath products when given as gifts; and the beauty of these gifts in a jar is that the recipient can see how much thought and time went into creating such original gifts ~ MUCH better than an over-packaged gift box that is all cardboard and no contents.

Christmas Day Spiced Coffee is the first of my Trio of Festive Beverages, and I hope that this decadent gift idea inspires you to make all three of them as a gift for a beverage lover in your family or circle of friends……I will be back tomorrow, but I would just like to mention how much fun Ren and I had the other day when we met for lunch ~ Ren is just as lovely as she appears on-line and on her blog Fabulious Food, and we gassed away for nearly three hours over soup, seeded bread rolls, hot chocolate, cakes and other sundry foodie treats! That’s all for today, I am off out for a meal tonight with my daughter to the The Fox ~ see you tomorrow with my tastings review.

Karen

GIFTS IN A JAR

A Trio of Festive Beverages:

Christmas Eve Hot Chocolate

Christmas Morning Tea

Christmas Day Spiced Coffee

Three rich, spiced and decadent beverage mixes to cover ALL of your Christmas tea, coffee and hot chocolate requirements. These would look wonderful in a small wicker basket with some home-made biscuits, perfect for a festive cuppa! First in the series is:

Christmas Day Spiced Coffee

2 cups of freshly ground coffee, medium roast

2 tablespoons icing sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

candy cane for a “stirrer”

Mix all the ingredients together well. Add them to a jar or tin with an attached label to say:

“ Place one scoop per person into the coffee machine’s coffee filter; add water and allow to filter through. Pour the hot coffee into a mug or cup and add cream, milk and sugar to taste and use the candy cane as a seasonal stirrer.”

Comments

Lovely recipe Karen. I've often done hot chocolate in a bowl, as a gift, so I'm looking forward to seeing your ideas next week. You're right people love these presents, and the tea sounds interesting too. Maybe a good gift to take to our friends in France for the New Year!

I absolutely love your blog, for many reasons. For one, you always post such gloriously Christmas recipes and what with me being a Christmas freak, I love this fact. Also, you always post so early, so that when I turn on my computer at the start of the day I always have little pick-me-up to read – who needs coffee when we have blogs! x

Ohh such a great Christmas recipe. Last year gave a 'jar' gift with ingrediants for a cake. Had seen in a magazine but I had forgotten all about it till now. Thank you on two counts, one for this great recipe and two for the reminder about gifts in jars. Your posts are so inspirational.

Loving the idea of hot chocolate in a jar. Can't wait for that one. Or even hot chocolate in a mug! I trawl the charity shops for pretty plates so I can give cakes away complete with plate, but haven't done your jar thing – great idea. It's all such fun, I so wish I had more time.

GO for it Terri ~ this recipe was developed for Country Kitchen when I worked (wrote) for them, so you may need to put a discreet note somewhere on the tag/lable such as Karen S Booth & Country Kitchen……BUT I would be delighted if you made this, stand by for the Hot Chocolate and Tea recipes that went with this one too! KarenXX

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Meet Karen

Bienvenue! I'm Karen; it’s lovely to see you here. I share my time between beautiful North Yorkshire and SW France. I am a freelance travel and food writer and recipe developer with a passion for art, travel, books, photography, seasonal food and especially cheese! Please do get in contact with me if you have any questions about my work or commissioning me. Read More…

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